


Christmas Lights (Don't Shine As Bright As You)

by anchoredlou



Category: One Direction
Genre: Blowjobs, Christmas Lights, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, I tried okay :D, Loumas, M/M, Proposals, SO MUCH FLUFF, and more - Freeform, cause basically it's all about Louis, handjobs, it's Christmas/Loumas themed, stupid teasing, that should be a tag, this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 10:54:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5331536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anchoredlou/pseuds/anchoredlou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis meets Harry when he’s nearly five. He decides then and there that the two of them are going to be best friends forever. </p><p>Episodes of Louis and Harry growing up together, falling in love and more. During all these years there’s one thing that haunts Louis though - he used to believe that the Christmas lights were set up for his birthday. Harry makes sure he doesn’t forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Lights (Don't Shine As Bright As You)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [violentroar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violentroar/gifts).



> Happy Birthday to my lovely [Meg](http://curlybits.tumblr.com/)! This one is just for you. 
> 
> thanks to [Heidi](http://infinitelymint.tumblr.com/) for encouraging me to finish this. you're a star.
> 
> come talk to me on [tumblr](http://anchoredlou.tumblr.com/).  
>   
> rebloggable tumblr post can be found [here](http://anchoredlou.tumblr.com/post/134364394044/christmas-lights-dont-shine-as-bright-as-you)  
> very loosely based on/inspired by [this](http://anchoredlou.tumblr.com/post/106276571189/louactually-rimmedlou-cravelouis-i-bet)

_1996, December 23rd_

“Mum, Mummmy, Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum, come on, come with me, you need to see this!”, Louis shouts as he comes running inside, boots covered in bits of snow and lots of mud. Jay sighs just thinking about having to clean the mess up later.

“What is it, boobear?”, she asks as her little four-year-old still doesn’t stop bouncing up and down.

He grabs her by her wrist and shrieks “You’ll see, come onnnnnnn!”

Any protest saying that it is dark and that he is already late to come back inside is useless, the boy just keeps dragging his mother as hard as he can outside the door. When they reach their front garden, Louis comes to a sudden halt, making Jay stop in a deep mud puddle. She is just about to complain and tell him off for being so ruthless, when she realises that the little boy’s demeanour has completely changed. Where he has been loud and bouncy before, he now is quiet and in awe. His head is thrown back in his neck, eyes wide and his little mouth voicelessly forming a drawn-out ‘woooow’. It takes her a second to figure out what would leave him in such a daze but then she sees the Christmas decorations that sparkle and shine around every other house down their street. There are stars and lit-up reindeer, snowmen and fairy lights, all in different colours, lighting up the now completely dark neighbourhood.

“Oh isn’t that just magical,” she whispers into Louis’ ear as she crouched down beside her little boy who still can’t tear his eyes away from all the different lights.

Finally he finds his voice again.

“But Mummy I can’t believe they did this… all of them… they did this.. for.. for me?”

Jay is stunned, at a loss for words. Why would he believe these decorations have been put up for him? So she only slightly cocks her head to one side, looking in her son’s bright eyes as to encourage him to continue and explain his thoughts.

“It’s so beautiful. Don’t you think so? I am a little sad that none of my friends are coming to my birthday party tomorrow. Just ‘cause it’s silly Christmas Eve. You would let me go to Stan’s birthday party, yes? But this is… Mummy, this is so pretty. Look at all the lights they put up for me. They must be for me, right Mummy? Cause it’s my birthday and you always make things pretty for my birthday, right? It’s like a million outside candles!”

Jay just smiles, far too surprised to really answer, and nods at her boy whose excited eyes reflect the lights.

She is saved by a new voice.

"Oh hello there! Look Harry, there’s a little boy there, maybe you two can play some time?”

When she looks to the pavement she sees a woman around her age, maybe a little older, with a pushchair that seated a boy who is a fair bit younger than Louis.

“Hi, I’m Jay, this is my son Louis. Are you new in this area?”, Jay introduces them to the strangers.

Louis makes his way over to the little boy, way too fascinated by his bobble hat that doesn’t sit quite right on top of his head.

“Oii get your muddy mitts out of his face, Lou, come on, I told you not to touch other kids’ faces”, Jay shouts out when she sees Louis reaching for Harry’s face.

“Only wanted to put the hat on his head so his ears stay warm,” mumbles the four-year-old in a quiet reply.

Anne’s eyes light up: “That was very considerate of you, young man. Thank you so much.”

She kneels down and holds out her hand, accepting Louis’ dirty little one.

“I’m Anne and this is Harry. He is two so a bit younger than you. We just moved here two days ago so he’s looking for new friends. Do you think you’d like to be friends?”

Louis nods, all of a sudden a bit shy, yet his eyes dart over to his mum and he whispers: “Can I invite my new friend to my birthday party?”

Instead of answering him, Jay comes closer and speaks up with a warm smile.

“So lovely to meet you two and welcome to the neighbourhood. Actually it’s Louis’ birthday tomorrow, he’s going to be five. I can imagine you’re still busy with unpacking? If you want a break, you are more than welcome to come and join us for lunch. Louis’ other friends won’t be coming seeing as it’s Christmas Eve and all the other families have plans already, so it would be nice to have someone over who Louis could play with besides his boring old parents.”

While Anne says that yes, they’d love to come over and would it be okay if she brought her husband and daughter as well, Jay notices that Louis is introducing himself properly to Harry.

“You are going to be my best friend, I know it. Lou-wee and Ha-wee. Bestest friends.”

Jay has a feeling that her little boy is onto something. She turns around, pointing at the Christmas lights.

“Have you put up your Louis-Lights yet?”

 

_2001, December 17th_

Sometimes Louis really hates his best friend and today is one of those days. When his mum lets him in after school, he makes sure to slam the door so that everyone knows that he’s upset.

“Boo, what’s up? Why the frowny face?”, his mother asks adding “and no matter what, no reason to slam the door, your sister is sleeping,” as an afterthought.

“Mum, I told you not to call me boo anymore. Last time you called me that all my friends heard and they keep calling me that. It’s embarrassing. And today was just stupid. Okay?”, Louis snapped back.

Okay, not such a great idea, there’s that vein on his mum’s forehead that shows she’s not happy with him. “I mean, sorry mum, I didn’t want to wake Lottie. But Harry made me so angry”, he tried to explain.

“You know, with… all the Christmas lights out and stuff.”

“Actually I don’t know ‘and stuff’ - what did Harry do? Do I need to call Anne?”, and no, Louis doesn’t need his mum to talk about this with Harry’s mum.

He doesn’t need anyone to talk about this anymore. Why won’t his mother just leave it alone? Nobody needs to know that Harry, little Harry who doesn’t know what he’s doing, embarrassed Louis in front of his friends on their way home. No one needs to know and maybe if he doesn’t talk about it, everyone will forget it.

“No no no, don’t call Anne. Everything is good, I was just joking.” There. That should do the trick.

An hour later someone’s at the door. Louis hears his mother get up and open it and shortly after he’s called downstairs. And there’s Harry, of course, and yes, also Anne. He stops on the stairs, sighing deeply.

“What do you want?”

Before Harry can say anything Anne speaks up. “Harry has been very upset and only told me it has to do with you and something that happened on your way back home. What did you do?”

Both Louis and Harry look at Anne with big eyes and while Harry just repeats “no, no, no” over and over again Louis has had enough.

“What did I do? Why is it always me? Harry embarrassed me. He’s little and he doesn’t know what he’s saying and now everyone is making fun of me. That is Harry’s fault, not mine!”

He runs back up to his room and flings himself on his bed. There’s tears stinging in his eyes but he doesn’t want to cry. He’s a big boy now and big boys don’t cry. Little boys like Harry, they still cry to their mothers, but not Louis. His door opens, and he knows from the quiet sniffles that it’s Harry. The door clicks shut and he hears a muffled “I’m sorry, Lou”.

He slowly lifts his head from where he’s buried it in his pillow before and looks at Harry who has red eyes and holds a crumpled tissue in his hand.

He doesn’t really hate Harry. He doesn’t think there is any possibility that he can ever hate Harry. He is his best friend after all. So he sits up and taps on his right side on the bed, hoping that Harry will sit down. He does.

“Okay. Apology accepted.”

Harry hugs him really tight and then asks, “Can you tell me why you were so angry with me? You’re never angry like this. Not with me.”

Louis knows deep down that he might have over-reacted, so he just explains: “Do you remember what you told the other boys? About the Christmas decorations and lights?”

After a second of thinking Harry nods.

“Yes I said that you always thought they were your birthday lights and… oh, did you not want me to tell the others?”

And oh, Harry didn’t say it to make fun of Louis?

“Yes, you know, the other boys are not so… well, they will make fun of me, I just know it. And it’s embarrassing and I don’t want that, Haz. That’s why I ran back home, I didn’t want to hear what the others said.”

Harry’s face lights up a bit.

“But you know they are stupid when they do that. I like Louis-Lights best.”

Actually, Louis is really happy that Harry is his best friend.

 

_2009, December 19th_

“I’m gay,” Louis whispers into the dark, Harry lying next to him in his bed, both hiding under his duvet.

‘and I think I might be in love with you’ is what he doesn’t add to his confession, already too worried about how his best friend will react.

He’s known for a while, is the thing, and he thinks that Harry might have his suspicions about it. If you just think about it, he’s nearly 18 and has never had a serious girlfriend. Hannah probably was the closest thing to it but they only went on like four dates about six months ago and when they kissed it was just so awkward. Just thinking back on it makes Louis shudder. It was like kissing his sister. Or aunt. Definitely nothing like butterflies or fireworks or just even a bit of heat. Nothing of the cliches he’s heard about. And he definitely didn’t want any more of that.

When they decided they didn’t want to go out anymore Louis snuck into Harry’s bedroom at night even though it was during the week and they weren’t supposed to stay overnight. But he needed his best friend’s comfort.

“Why can’t I find a girl who makes me happy, Haz? Why is it so hard? Is there something wrong with me?”, were his words but Harry couldn’t offer any answer.

He just shrugged, enveloped Louis in his arms to pull him tighter to his chest and whispered in his ear: “Nothing wrong with you, Lou. Just gotta find the right person, yea? When someone’s right for you, you’ll know.”

And that, that was just it, wasn’t it? Maybe someone… maybe someone didn’t have to be a girl. The days after were probably the most confusing for Louis. He always thought he hadn’t met the right girl yet, but he wanted it. He wanted to be able to talk about relationships and yes, sex, with the other lads who all had girlfriends or at least hook-ups every now and then. But if he was honest with himself, the thought of girls never turned him on that much, and there was that one time he went swimming with Harry and had that untimely stiffy that he needed to take care of in the changing room and if he came with the picture of Harry’s abs in his head, no one had to know… God, he found Harry attractive. His best friend Harry who’d grown into this beautiful boy with wonderful brown curls, the biggest and most wonderful smile and such a nice body. He found himself thinking about Harry more and more after that.

The months since that realisation have been really tough because not only did he realise that he was gay but that he was also quite possibly in love with his best friend. Well congratulations, isn’t that just the best recipe for disaster? Even if Harry is okay with Louis being gay (which - of course he will be because Harry is such an open and loving person, Louis hopes he’ll extend that love and acceptance to his friend), how on earth will Louis be able to ignore that he loves his best friend. Love. Oh fuck. No, that’s not possible. Nope, love, he’s too young for that, what does he even know about love? Yet...

There in the darkness of his room Louis is close to a freakout over something he hasn’t said out loud yet, with all these thoughts running loudly through his head that he nearly misses Harry’s answer.

“I figured,” is all he says.

Wait what? How on earth did he figure?

“After Hannah… you know, you’ve been acting differently. Not trying to eye up girls. And sometimes…” he hesitates before continuing “sometimes I caught you looking at me, lost in thought, and I’ve always wondered whether there was more to it, you know.”

At that Louis shoots up into a sitting position, breathing heavily. He shuffles his feet up the mattress, hugs his legs close to his chest and rests his head on his knees. In his head he keeps telling himself to breathe cause Harry hasn’t run away yet, but shit, things are about to change now. He’s sure Harry will let him down easy but fuck, can they still be best friends after this? Why does he have to ruin everything good in his life? There’s movement besides him, there’s Harry’s hands on his shoulders, there’s a whispered “Louis, please look at me.”

So he does, ever so slowly, he blinks his eyes and hopes the tears won’t spill over just yet and when he finally looks into Harry’s eyes he sees… uncertainty? Is that it?

Harry seems to be trying to find something to say but he struggles and really, it’d be better if he left, maybe they can talk about it another time, so he starts, “yea Haz, please can we just” but he doesn’t get to finish.

He’s silenced by Harry’s finger on his lips and he raises his eyebrows in question.

“Please, let me… can I just try something?”, Harry asks, voice a mere rasp.

Louis nods, heart pounding in his chest and before he can say or do anything else, Harry’s moved closer, his face is just a couple of centimetres away.

He tilts his head slightly and whispers: “I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s okay with you.”

And Louis doesn’t move, just closes his eyes and then it’s dry, warm lips pressed against his. The kiss is soft, maybe a little weird because Harry’s kissing a bit above Louis’ upper lip, still he feels it. There’s fireworks behind his eyes, there’s a heat rising in his chest, and he dares lifting one hand to cup Harry’s delicate face.

Their lips move slowly together, changing into little pecks and finally breaking apart because they’re both laughing. Louis feels so much but most of all he feels light. He looks at Harry whose eyes shine brightly even in the darkness of the room, the Christmas lights on the street offering enough light to show the smile creeping in on his face.

“Me too”, Harry says.

Louis is a bit confused, “Me too what?”

“Gay. I’m gay, too. If you haven’t figured it out by now. And I, God why is this so hard? The kiss, it was good, yea?” Harry stumbles over his own words.

“The best,” Louis replies shortly, smile settling comfortably on his lips.

“I have been thinking about you, and me, and us? You’re my best friend and I love you, you know that, right? Thing is that I.. I think I love you more than just a best friend? Lou, I’ve been thinking so much about kissing you, about holding your hand, about touching you…,” and this time it’s Louis who silences Harry, but this time with a kiss.

“Me too,”is all he says, and as he looks into Harry’s eyes he thinks he doesn’t need to add more, Harry’s big grin being enough confirmation that he understood.

Louis lies back down, suddenly feeling way too overwhelmed by this emotional rollercoaster that this night has been, but he tugs at Harry’s hand and luckily he lies down as well, his back to Louis, so that Louis wraps Harry in his arms and rests one hand on Harry’s chest where he can feel his steady heartbeat.

“I’m so happy,” he tells to the back of Harry’s head, and because sometimes it’s better to say things out loud he adds, “And I’m so in love with you.”

 

_2016, December 24th_

Louis has always had problems being excited for his birthday, mainly because everyone else was excited for Christmas and he had to endure the stress of getting gifts for them and be in Christmas spirit or whatever people wanted to call it. Bottom line, he never really had the chance to look forward to just his birthday. Luckily his boyfriend knows this since he’s been around forever, basically, and he’s always tried to make Louis’ birthday special in any way that he could, even more so since they’ve started dating.

This year marks a special birthday - it’s Louis’ 25th, and also, it’s the first birthday they get to spend in their own house without any family to worry about. They moved to Sheffield in July for their jobs, giving them more freedom to just be by themselves rather than having their family occupy all of their time. Louis’ family decided to spend the holidays in the sun (“Are you sure that’s okay boo,” Jay asked approximately 182 times, and Louis said “Yes” every single time), and Harry convinced Anne that they’d be fine spending Louis’ birthday alone and that they’d be down on Christmas day.

So now he’s lying in bed, pondering whether he really wants to open his eyes. He reaches out to the right side of the bed where he expects to be patting a head full of chocolate curls but instead there’s a cold pillow, which, weird. He gets on his back and takes a deep breath finally smelling the warm, faint scent of freshly baked muffins and coffee. He sits up, eyes still closed, resting his head against the headboard and hums a little melody to himself. Not such a bad birthday yet, is it? A minute later the door clicks open and Louis slowly opens his eyes to see Harry carry a tray with a couple of muffins, two mugs and a plush flower with a smiley face on it.

Harry smiles widely at Louis.

“Good morning, babe, happy birthday,” he says before he gently places the tray on the bed and leans down for a close-mouthed kiss.

Louis brings his right hand up to play with Harry’s hair.

“Thanks, love. Already feel like it’s the best birthday. Slept in. Freshly baked muffins and a whole day just to myself and my favourite boy.”

Harry smirks, his dimples deepening and eyes showing a mischievous glint.

“I’ll make sure it’s gonna be your best birthday. How about you get started on these, “ he motions towards the muffins, “and I’ll get your first present, hm?”

Louis nods in agreement and reaches out for his mug. He didn’t know he’d fancy a coffee today but somehow Harry did so he enjoys the first sip of the hot drink. While he’s munching on his muffin, Harry returns, carrying a square packet wrapped in green gift wrap with blue dots.

“Cheesy,” Louis grins but makes grabby hands because he can’t wait to see what his boyfriend got him.

He unwraps the packet to reveal a box, he lifts the lid and… there’s a onesie? A grey one quite similar to one he had when he was a teenager?

“Harry… why? I mean, thanks, doll. This is so lovely,” Louis is actually a little lost but Harry is quick to help him out.

“You’ve been so stressed lately so I thought bringing back something comfy that reminds you of good times when you were young,” he evades a cushion thrown at his head, “heeeeey, I just thought it’d help you relax. Also.. it’s already washed so, you know, you could wear it right now. Just the way you like it.”

His cheeks redden a bit and Louis is so endeared that he misses the point of what Harry’s said for a moment.

Then he remembers their lazy afternoons and nights, spent together, just hanging around wearing nothing but their onesies til one afternoon Harry sneakily zipped Louis’ up from below, sneaking his hand inside and wrapping his hand around Louis cock.

“Easy access,” is what he whispered then, and it’s what he’s whispering right at this fucking moment into Louis’ ear. Harry walks back to the door.

“You can get changed, if you like, I’ll be downstairs… sorting Christmas lights and stuff.”

Louis jolts up at that, “We said NO Christmas lights. You know how I feel about them, come on babe, you gotta be nice to me.”

Harry laughs, “Oh but sunshine, don’t you know that Louis-Lights are still my favourite to this day?”.

He winks at Louis and then disappears downstairs, shouting “I’ll be waiting, and I haven’t had any breakfast yet, one might say I’m starving a bit.”

Which, interesting. It definitely motivates Louis to finish his breakfast real quick. He decides to freshen up a bit in their bathroom, taking care of his business while he’s brushing his teeth, then trying to fluff his sleep-ruffled hair a bit into the soft fringe he knows Harry likes so much. Eventually he puts on the Onesie - perfect fit and so soft on the inside, he’s glad his bum isn’t going to suffer from him free-balling it. He smirks at the memory of his and Harry’s first rather clueless attempts at handjobs, nevermind blowjobs, but he remembers it fondly. No one else would’ve been better for him and he’s just glad that he’s in love with his best friend.

He walks past some fairy lights decoration that Harry put up in the hallway - a compromise Louis was willing to make since Harry added lots of pictures of the two of them through the years. They don’t show any special occasions, really just the two of them being happy and being together. “Will I have to eat a muffin after all?” he hears Harry calling him from the living room and of course, how did he get lost in his thoughts? He makes his way to Harry quickly, he’s waiting on the dark sofa, concentrating on a crossword puzzle book yet with no pen so Louis knows it’s just to wind him up.

“Oh hi Louis, didn’t know whether you’d come so I thought I’d just entertain myself otherwise,” he tries to tease but he isn’t able to keep a wide grin from his face.

“Oh just shut it,” Louis says, dropping on Harry’s lap and capturing his lips in a kiss.

Harry huffs out a breath.

“Was about time you came,” he replies.

“But I haven’t. Not yet,” Louis states, rolling his hips up against Harry’s crotch.

He can already feel himself getting hard, just here, close to Harry, kissing him, breathing him in. He tangles his fingers in Harry’s hair, just behind his ear where he knows he likes it best, and pulls a little.

“So about that easy access,” Louis murmurs before attaching his lips to Harry’s neck, gently sucking across his throat. Harry hums, eyes closed, clearly enjoying this moment, before he seems to snap out of it, rather alert, and looking down at Louis’ crotch.

“Yea, about that,” he brings his right hand down, slowly bringing the zipper up, revealing Louis’ cock that’s half-hard.

“Think it’s time for you to relax real good, don’t you think?”

Louis whimpers at that, Harry’s firm grip loosening a bit so he can move his hand up and down, ever so torturously slowly.

They get lost in another kiss, all tongue and wet and urgent, the air between them having shifted from playful to heated. Louis bites on Harry’s lower lip as Harry brushes his thumb across his slit which is slick with precome.

“Oh God, Haz, please…”

Louis seems to have lost any and all feeling in his body except for where Harry is touching him. He feels his kisses burning up his face, his left hand roaming up and down his ribs, finally resting on the curve of his bum, and then his right hand, God, working on his cock. For a second he loses all feeling, he opens his eyes to see Harry snapping a lube bottle open.

“You came prepared, I like that.. in… a … guy,” he tries to be cocky as Harry wraps his hand around his dick again, the movements smoother now with the help of the lube.

Louis feels the heat in his groin building up, now desperate to get his hands on Harry’s cock.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Harry asks, pausing his movement. Louis whimpers at the loss of friction. “I wanna touch you,” he pleads, but Harry takes Louis’ hand and brings it up to his hair again.

“Today’s about you, so no. Just let go, baby. You look so good, you’ve no idea. Just like the boy I fell in love with.”

Harry picks up pumping Louis’ dick again, pulling him closer to his chest, kissing him urgently, whimpering when Louis pulls at his hair.

“‘m so close Haz, not gonna last, I’m.. oh God”, Louis says in a high pitched, airy voice.

That’s when Harry pushes him on his back on the sofa, hands suddenly removed from Louis’ cock and bum, moving down Louis’ body, so he can wrap his lips around the head of Louis’ hard dick. Harry looks up at him, humming lowly, reaching out for Louis’s hands, just to put one of them on his head while he intertwines their fingers on the other hand. He lowers his head and Louis can feel the tight heat of Harry’s mouth envelop him. It feels so good and his hips buck up.

“Fuck shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he starts but Harry hums appreciatively and takes Louis’ cock even deeper before bobbing up again.

Louis understands, he gulps as he grips Harry’s locks tighter, pulling at them, before leading his head back down again. He’s fucking Harry’s mouth while Harry’s rutting against the sofa, desperate to get some friction himself. The air is filled with low moans and deep breaths from both of them. Fuck, he’s getting close, leaving out a broken “Babe, I’m…” before he comes down Harry’s throat.

Harry swallows as good as he can, letting Louis’ cock slip out of his mouth, still circling the head with his tongue to catch anything he could’ve missed. Louis pulls him up, kisses him hard, tasting himself on Harry’s lips, on his tongue, and he reaches down to touch Harry’s dick, to help him get release, and that is all it takes. Harry comes with a deep groan, biting on Louis’ collarbone.

“Happy birthday to me,” Louis hums into Harry’s ear as he pulls him close again.

After a joint shower that may have included another handjob, they decide to chill on the sofa and watch The Notebook, where they miss most of the film because they’re too busy snogging, just like they did when they were teenagers.

Louis unwraps a couple of other gifts that Harry got him, two tickets to a Doncaster Rovers match where they’ll be sitting in a box with James Coppinger who was Louis’ local hero so excuse him if he squeals  a little when he learns that, a couple of socks with crazy patterns, a book and CD (“Please Harold, after all these years you still haven’t given up on trying to influence my taste? Who even listens to country music in the winter?”).

The best gift, Harry says, Louis will get after dinner.

Louis is trying to get ready, dressing nicely for their dinner date at their favourite Indian, but is constantly disturbed by friends and family calling to congratulate him. He wonders what Harry’s doing in the meantime cause he’s finished dressing a while ago. He finds him downstairs while his mum is telling him something about the rude air hostess, and, what is that in his hands?

“Just sorting out our Christmas lights, Lou,” Harry says innocently, his left dimple deepening, revealing that he knows he’s being a right shit right now.

“Harry,” Louis hisses, “we said NO Christmas lights outside. I don’t want any of that on our house.”

Harry just shrugs and puts the lights away, “If you insist, just think of all the lovely Lou-Lights we could set up though…”

As an answer he gets a cushion to his head. Louis sincerely hopes that will knock the idea out of his head.

A couple of hours later they’ve finished their meals.

“Lord, I’m so full, I guess we should walk home to just work this off, don’t you think?”, Harry says with a pained voice after he’s paid the bill.

To prove his point he breathes a lot of air in to make his belly bigger, slapping on it, “I just wanna look my best for my boo.”

Louis sighs in defeat. “Ugh you’re the worst. But might as well, bit of fresh air won’t do no harm.”

They hold hands as they make their way home, snow falling slowly, dusting the pavement and gardens lightly. It’s actually rather cold and Louis wishes he’d put on the proper coat instead of just his blazer. When will he finally be a responsible adult? Looks like 25 still isn’t old enough. Harry’s shivering too, though his hand is rather clammy. He’s fallen silent after they’ve made about half of their way home.

“Babe, are you okay?”, Louis asks, coming to a halt.

Harry just smiles, “Yea, fine, just really full I guess. And it’s just really cold. Let’s make sure we just get home quick alright?”

Louis has a feeling Harry’s not telling the whole truth, but who is he to say that. Maybe Harry’s having trouble with his stomach, that sometimes happens after they’ve had Indian, and he understands that Harry doesn’t really want to talk about it. So he just makes sure to pick up the pace a bit.

“Look at all these Louis-Lights,” Harry whispers when they’re just around the corner from the street they live on, his tone teasing.

“Looks like people really want to honour you on your birthday, huh”, he nudges Louis.

“Oh, won’t you just shut it”, Louis playfully pushes Harry away. Harry pretends to be hurt but Louis keeps on walking. When Harry hasn’t followed a couple of steps in, he turns around, just to see Harry sliding back his phone into his pocket.

“Sorry that was just mum texting. She says to wish you a happy birthday, sunshine,” Harry explains.

Louis has already spoken to Anne today but okay, doesn’t do any harm to get birthday wishes twice. He also likes the use of her nickname for him.

They finally reach their house when Louis gasps in horror. Their house is covered in Christmas lights.

He spins around, “Did you seriously, honestly cover our house in lights when I specifically asked you not to, you wanker?”

Harry just grins, moving towards the house. He snaps his fingers once and then there’s more lights. Louis doesn’t know where to look first, but finally he sees some words spelt out - WILL YOU MARRY ME?

[(xx)](https://41.media.tumblr.com/57ca47b0c1259544222782fa9049a095/tumblr_nyp9fktvrh1rlvp5oo1_500.jpg)

Louis’ mouth drops open, he turns to where Harry was just before but he can’t see. He hears him clearing his throat behind his back, and when he turns he has to look down, Harry on one knee, holding up a little box.

“Louis, my love. You’ve always been the one for me. You’ve always been the brightest light in my life. I’m so lucky to have you as my best friend and partner. I know you hate Christmas lights, but I’ve come to really love Louis-Lights so I don’t think there’s any better way to ask you - will you marry me?”

He flips the box open with shaking fingers, revealing a simple silver band. Louis head swims. He can’t believe the man in front of him. He was supposed to do the proposing, he had already drafted an idea in his head, but, no no, he focuses on the now. There’s Harry in front of him, and surely he must know the answer. Louis holds out his left hand, nodding fervently.

“Yes Harry, love, yes of course I’ll marry you.”

 

_2018, December 21st_

Their families are due to arrive any minute now. Louis didn’t expect for them to agree to a big family meal so shortly before the Christmas madness, then again, their families have always been happy for any excuse to get together.

Louis and Harry are standing outside their house, Christmas decorations covering their house and front lawn, just waiting to be lit up. Louis is a bit nervous, if he’s honest, but as if he sensed it, Harry grabs his hands and squeezes it reassuringly. They look at each other, Louis’ thumb hovering over the power button that will bring their lights to life.

“Ready Ha-Wee?” - “Ready Lou-Wee.”

It’s still them, the two little boys, becoming best friends, becoming lovers, becoming husbands, becoming fathers.

[(xx)](https://40.media.tumblr.com/96356653bfe11e835e3e7d43cdfa7b68/tumblr_nyp9fktvrh1rlvp5oo2_500.jpg)

 


End file.
